This is mining week in Saskatchewan, recognizing the economic and social contribution of an industry that plays a bigger role than it gets credit for in our economy.
Saskatchewan is usually seen as a farming province. We’re are called the Bread Basket of the World and so on but, in reality, we’re more of a mining province than an agricultural one when it comes to pure economics.
We account for three per cent of the country’s population, for example, but almost a quarter of the value of its mineral output as we punch well above our weight class on this measure as world scale suppliers in several product lines.
And that spread between us and other parts of the country will likely grow as the fight against climate change is embracing a heavier emphasis on uranium-fueled nuclear power.
The latest government numbers say the mining industry employs 30,000 people in our province – 11,000 directly and twice that many in the service and supply sectors that support the mining community.
